Apparatus for reducing power consumption by using capacitive coupling to perform majority detection

ABSTRACT

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that reduces power consumption by using capacitive coupling to perform a majority detection operation. The system starts by driving a plurality of signals onto a plurality of driven wires. The signals are then fed from each driven wire through a corresponding coupling capacitor to a single majority detection wire. Next, the system feeds signal on the majority detection wire and a bias voltage to a differential receiver. The output of the differential receiver switches if the signal on the majority-detection wire switches relative to the bias voltage. The system then uses the output of the differential receiver to optimize the signals from the plurality of driven wires for transmission across a long signal route. Optimizing the transmission of signals reduces the power consumed by the computer system.

GOVERNMENT LICENSE RIGHTS

This invention was made with United States Government support underContract No. NBCH020055 awarded by the Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Administration. The United States Government has certain rightsin the invention.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to techniques for improving theperformance of computer systems.

Data signals in modern integrated circuits typically flow through largebundles of wires or buses, called “datapaths,” which can be 32 bitswide, 64 bits wide, or even wider. Control signals are often bundledinto these wide buses as well. Note that each bit on the bus can be alogical “1” or a logical “0,” and different voltages can represent eachof these two logical values. For example, the “0” value is typicallyrepresented by a ground voltage, and the “1” value by the power supplyvoltage. As computer systems continue to increase in complexity, thesedata bundles must often be routed over long distances across thecomputer system. These long routes can be on chips, on boards, or acombination of both. Because the routes are so long, they are oftenbroken up into stages, with on-chip circuits periodically restoring, orrepeating, these signals.

Transmission of these signals is often more efficient when sending onelogical value than when sending the opposing logical value. For example,consider chips driving on-board traces that are resistively pulled high;if the bits are all “1”s, the driving chips do not need to overpower thepull-up resistors. Consequently, sending “1” values is more efficientthan sending “0” values. Another example is the canonical domino circuitdesign, which consumes less power when sending a “0” than when sending a“1,” because “0” values cause no changes in the circuit voltages.Therefore, if a wide datapath uses such domino circuits, transmitting“0” signals across the datapath reduces the power consumption of thecircuit.

By controlling the switching of the datapath signals, a given circuit'spreferences can be exploited to reduce power consumption. For example,with a circuit that prefers logical “0”s, this can be accomplished byquickly computing whether the datapath contains more “0”s than “1”s (orvice versa). If the majority of bits are “0”s, the signals aretransmitted unaltered. Alternatively, if more bits are “1”s, the logicalinverse of the bits is transmitted—along with a special side signalwhich informs the receiver that all the bits were inverted.

Such a scheme adds considerable complexity to the datapath because thescheme requires a majority detector, a signal inverter, and the sidesignal. Unfortunately, the majority detector consumes a significantamount of power, which reduces the total power savings of the scheme. Inaddition, the delay through a majority detector impacts the throughputof the datapath, because a potential majority must first be detectedbefore data can be sent. This delay, coupled with the delay of the extrainversion stage, can significantly impact the performance of thedatapath.

In other circuits, the actual transmitted values matter less thanwhether or not they change. Sending the same data bit repeatedly, either“1” or “0,” costs little energy; but sending a pattern that repeatedlyflips between a “1” and a “0” consumes a great deal of power. The powerconsumption of the datapath can be reduced by minimizing the number oftimes that the circuits switch. Minimizing the switching requires thecircuit first to compare the current logical state of each bit in thedatapath with its prior value. If the majority of bits did not changefrom the previous cycle to the current cycle, then the bits are sentwithout alteration. On the other hand, if the majority of bits didchange, then the datapath sends the logical inverse of the data bits andasserts the special side signal to indicate the bits were inverted. Inthis scheme, the overhead includes per-bit comparison circuits (XORs), amajority detector, a signal inverter, and a side signal. As with theprior scheme, the power consumption of the majority detector reduces thepotential benefits of this scheme. In addition, the XORs, signalinverter and majority detector introduce extra delay to the datapath.

A common element to both of these schemes is a majority detector.Majority detectors implemented in digital circuits are complex, slow,and power-hungry. Counting the majority of eight bits using simple logicgates, for example, requires detecting all possible groupings of fivebits. Majority detectors built from analog differential circuits are farsmaller but cannot easily scale to many bits. Analog majority detectorsalso suffer from design complexity and delay and power issues.

SUMMARY

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that reducespower consumption by using capacitive coupling to perform a majoritydetection operation. The system starts by driving a plurality of signalsonto a plurality of driven wires. The signals are then fed from eachdriven wire through a corresponding coupling capacitor to a singlemajority detection wire. Next, the system feeds the signal on themajority detection wire and a bias voltage to a differential receiver.The output of the differential receiver switches if the signal on themajority-detection wire switches relative to the bias voltage. Thesystem then uses the output of the differential receiver to optimize thesignals from the plurality of driven wires for transmission across along signal route. Optimizing the transmission of signals reduces thepower consumed by the computer system.

In a further variation, the system feeds the signal from each drivenwire through a coupling capacitor to a corresponding coupled wire. Thesystem then feeds the signal from each coupled wire to a correspondingdriver for transmission across the long signal route.

The system feeds the majority detection wire and the coupled wire inparallel, thereby allowing the system to optimize the transmission ofsignals on the long signal route without adding delay to the long signalroute.

In a variation of this embodiment, the coupling capacitor is formed byrunning the driven wire alongside to the coupled wire for a specificdistance with a specific separation.

In a variation of this embodiment, the bias voltage can be adjusted tomake the differential receiver more sensitive to small voltage changeson the majority-detection wire.

In a variation of this embodiment, optimizing the transmission ofsignals across the long signal route involves using an encoder to modifythe logical state of the signal to accommodate a preference of adownstream-circuit for a particular logical state, or to preventunnecessary switching during the transmission of the signals.

In a variation of this embodiment, the system uses a control signal toindicate to downstream circuitry that the signals have been optimizedfor transmission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A illustrates driver circuit driving coupled wire through acoupling capacitor in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 1B illustrates a driver circuit driving a coupled wire through acoupling capacitor created by a wire overlap in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2A illustrates a pipelined datapath in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2B illustrates a pipelined datapath with majority detection inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3A illustrates a series of drivers that are capacitively coupled tothe input of a receiver to form a majority detector in accordance withan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3B illustrates a series of drivers that are capacitively coupled tothe input of a differential receiver to form a majority detector inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates a capacitively coupled circuit which detects the datamajority in parallel with a data transfer in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 illustrates a capacitively coupled circuit which detects the datamajority in parallel with a data transfer in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates a pipelined datapath that includes a capacitivelycoupled circuit which detects the majority in parallel with a datatransfer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled inthe art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context ofa particular application and its requirements. Various modifications tothe disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied toother embodiments and appli-cations without departing from the spiritand scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accordedthe widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosedherein.

Driving a Coupled Wire Through a Coupling Capacitor

FIG. 1A illustrates a driver (sender 103) driving coupled wire 101through a coupling capacitor C_(c) in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present invention. Note that C_(w) represents the capacitance of thewire; C_(p2) represents the parasitic capacitance associated withcoupled wire 101; and C_(p1) represents the parasitic capacitanceassociated with driving wire 100. Note also that C_(p1) has no effect onthe voltage seen on coupled wire 101; instead, its main effect is toslow down the voltage transition on driving wire 100.

Coupling capacitor C_(c), acts to divide the voltage applied to drivingwire 100 (V_(DW)), so that the voltage seen on coupled wire 101 (V_(CW))is equivalent to:

$V_{CW} = {V_{DW} \cdot {( \frac{C_{c}}{C_{c} + C_{p\; 2} + C_{w}} ).}}$

By careful sizing of the coupling capacitance C_(c) (and its parasiticcapacitance C_(p2)), the voltage swing on coupled wire 101 can be setfor the desired power consumption. For example, if a particular couplingcapacitor design has a parasitic capacitance C_(p2) equal to half of itscoupling capacitance C_(c), then sizing the coupling capacitor so thatC_(c) is equal to the C_(w)/8.5 results in a 10× voltagereduction—resulting in a 10× reduction in power consumption on coupledwire 101.

Because the coupling capacitor is connected in series with thedownstream wire load, the effective load (C_(eff)) seen by the driver isreduced:

$C_{eff} = {C_{p\; 1} + {( \frac{C_{c} \cdot ( {C_{p\; 2} + C_{w}} )}{C_{c} + C_{p\; 2} + C_{w}} ).}}$

For example, if C_(c)=2·C_(p2)=C_(w)/8.5, then the C_(eff)=0.164·C_(w).In contrast, without a coupling capacitor C_(eff)=C_(w); a 6× increasein the driven capacitance.

Wire Overlaps for Coupling Capacitors

FIG. 1B illustrates a driver circuit driving coupled wire 111 through acoupling capacitor C_(c) created by a wire overlap in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

Because wires on a semiconductor chip typically have high aspect ratios(the wires are taller than they are wide), two wires placed side by sidehave a large sideways exposure to each other and a natural capacitivecoupling occurs between the wires. These wires often have side-to-sidecoupling that is much larger than their ground coupling. With modernfabrication processes, minimum-spaced wires have side-to-sidecapacitance that is 70% of their total capacitance: 35% of the totalcapacitance is to its right-side neighbor; and 35% of the totalcapacitance is to its left-side neighbor.

Normally this high side-to-side coupling leads to dangerous noiseproblems. However, the effect can be exploited in order to capacitivelycouple wires. Consider driver sender 112 that drives a short stub wire110; stub wire 110 can be placed very close to coupled wire 111,creating coupling capacitor C_(c) between the wires. The length of theoverlap determines the coupling capacitance between the wires. Becausethese coupled wires have large side-to-side capacitance compared totheir parasitic capacitance, the parasitic capacitances C_(p1) andC_(p2) are small compared to C_(c). Designing the overlap to beapproximately ⅓ the length of coupled wire 111 achieves a 10× reductionin voltage swing.

The Pipelined Datapath and Majority Detection

FIG. 2A illustrates a pipelined datapath, and FIG. 2B illustrates apipelined datapath with majority detection in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

In these figures, source 200 drives a number of signals to destination202. Along the route between source 200 and destination 202, on-chipcircuits such as repeater 201 periodically restore, or repeat, thesesignals.

In large-scale machines, datapaths can be repeated multiple times asthey run between and across chips. These repeaters effectively“pipeline” the datapath, as seen in FIG. 2A.

When a datapath is pipelined, the majority detection and the encoding ofthe signals in the datapath can occur across two “stages.” In thisscheme (as seen in FIG. 2B), source 200 transmits the signals throughthe first stage of the datapath without any preferred data or minimizedtransitions. In parallel with the first datapath stage, majoritydetector 203 calculates the controls for power reduction and forwardsthe controls to encoder 204 in the next stage. If the controls areasserted, encoder 204 optimizes the datapath signals for transmission.Otherwise, if the controls are not asserted, encoder 204 transmits thesignals on the long signal line without altering them. At the other end,decoder 205 receives the datapath signals. If the control signals areasserted, decoder 205 decodes the datapath signals prior to feeding thesignals to destination 202. Otherwise, if the controls are not asserted,decoder 205 passes the datapath signals through to destination 202without altering them.

This pipelining allows for the per-bit comparison and majority detectionto take place in parallel with a transmission stage. Done this way, thecomparison and majority detection does not delay any data flow.Otherwise, the system must wait for this computation to complete beforesending any data. On the other hand, the system cannot save power forone pipeline stage. However, given a long datapath which requires twentyor more pipeline stages to transmit data from source to destination,losing one stage worth of power reduction is not a significant problem.

Creating a Majority Detector using Capacitive Coupling

FIG. 3A illustrates a series of drivers (sender1, sender2 and sender3)which are capacitively coupled to the input of receiver 300 to form amajority detector in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

As mentioned with respect to FIG. 1A, systems using either on-chip orcross-chip capacitive coupling use capacitors for transmitting signals.When multiple senders are capacitively coupled to a single receiver,each sender (such as sender1, sender2 and sender3) transfers chargeacross its own capacitor (such as cap1, cap2 and cap3), and the sum ofthe charges appears at the receiver's input (as indicated by the dashedlines from each sender to the common node on the input of the receiver).Consequently, when all capacitors are of equal value, the chargecapacitively coupled to the receiver's input from the three senders, ifthey all switch, is three times greater than when a single senderswitches. For example, the receiver sees a voltage of 33% of the powersupply if only one sender switches, a voltage of 66% of the power supplyif two senders switch, and a voltage of 100% of the power supply if allthree senders switch.

In this configuration, the capacitively coupled senders and the receiverform a majority detector. Hence, if the receiver has a logic thresholdequal to 50% of the power supply, the receiver trips only if a majorityof senders switch.

Creating a Majority Detector using Capacitive Coupling with a BiasedDifferential Receiver

FIG. 3B illustrates senders which are capacitively coupled to the inputof a differential receiver to form a majority detector in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention. Note the receiver-sideplate of the coupling capacitor is drawn as a single plate, indicatingthat the coupling capacitor can be manufactured with a singlereceiver-side plate.

Controlling each capacitor to deliver exactly enough charge to switchthe receiver to 1/N of the power supply (where N is the number ofcapacitors) proves difficult given typical process variability. Thus, amore reasonable implementation includes differential receiver 303 with avariable bias input voltage (V_(BIAS) 304). Accordingly, instead ofdepending on the input voltage alone, the receiver can compare the inputvoltage with the V_(BIAS) 304 when determining how many of thecapacitively coupled senders switched. The differential receiver usingV_(BIAS) 304 is much simpler to use because the circuit designer canmodify V_(BIAS) 304 as needed. In addition, because of the flexibilitygained by using V_(BIAS) 304, the capacitors can be made much smaller,thereby saving power and delay. For example, the capacitors can be sizedso that a single switching capacitor can transmit a voltage of 5% of thepower supply, two switching capacitors transmit a voltage of 10% of thepower supply, and all three switching capacitors transmit a voltage of15% of the power supply. The bias voltage can then be set to 8% of thepower supply to safely detect a majority of two switching capacitors.For example, the majority detector of FIG. 3B switches if two or more ofthe senders send “1's,” and does nothing if two or more of the senderssend “0's.”

When using a differential receiver to detect the logical states of theinput signals, a complication arises when half the bits send a “1” andthe other half send a “0.” In this case, no net charge appears on thereceiver plate, causing the logical state of the output of thedifferential receiver to be indeterminate. Majority detectors for thiskind of a system can be built, in which the bias voltage is less thanthe voltage from a single upwards switching capacitor—allowing themajority detector to detect a single plate majority.

Note that this detection of majority need not be exact. Because the goalof the circuit is to save power, in the case where barely a majority ofinputs send a “1,” the penalty of miscomputation is small. Thus, slighterrors in capacitive matching, or in receiver offsets, may be safelyignored, which simplifies the design substantially.

Majority Detection Done in Parallel with Data Transfer

FIG. 4 illustrates a capacitively coupled circuit which detects themajority in parallel with a data transfer in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

This circuit transmits data on the signal lines in the same fashion as anormal capacitively coupled circuit (see FIGS. 1A-1B). In this circuit,however, the senders (sender1, sender2 and sender3) must drive theadditional capacitance associated with the majority detector. Drivingthis additional capacitive load adds delay and energy cost, but thiscost is small because for each signal line the transmission capacitorsappear in series with the capacitive load of the receiver (minimizingthe effective capacitance seen by the sender). Note that this circuit is3 bits wide, but the technique can be generalized to 32, 64, or anynumber of bits in a datapath.

Capacitively Coupled Signals for Data Transfer and Majority Detection

FIG. 5 illustrates a capacitively coupled circuit which detects themajority in parallel with a data transfer in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

In an on-chip capacitively-coupled wire system, the transfer capacitorsare comprised of wires that overlap near each other, as seen in theright-side pitchfork of pitchforks 500. The majority capacitors can bemade in exactly the same way, as seen in the left-side pitchfork ofpitchforks 500.

FIG. 6 illustrates a pipelined datapath that includes a capacitivelycoupled circuit which detects the majority in parallel with a datatransfer, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. Inother words, FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of the pipelined datapathshown in FIG. 2B.

In FIG. 6, senders 1-3 comprise a source 200 (see FIG. 2B). Receivers1-3 comprise repeater 201, which is coupled to encoder 204 (see FIG.2B). As was described earlier, encoder 204 can optimize signals fortransmission. As was also described earlier with reference to FIG. 2B,these signals can travel through one or more repeaters before they aredecoded using decoder 205, and subsequently received at destination 202.

As described earlier with reference to FIGS. 4-5, differential receiver303 and pitchforks 610-612 can form a majority detector. Also, as wasdiscussed earlier with reference to FIG. 3B, bias voltage adjustingmechanism 602 can adjust bias voltage V_(BIAS) 304 to make differentialreceiver 303 more sensitive to small voltage changes on themajority-detection wire 606. Control signal wire 604 carries a signalindicating to downstream circuitry (e.g., decoder 205) that signals onthe long signal route have been optimized for transmission.

The foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the present invention havebeen presented for purposes of illustration and description only. Theyare not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention tothe forms disclosed. Accordingly, many modifications and variations willbe apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. Additionally, the abovedisclosure is not intended to limit the present invention. The scope ofthe present invention is defined by the appended claims.

1. An apparatus that reduces power consumption by using capacitivecoupling to perform a majority detection operation, comprising: aplurality of driven wires that receive driven signals from a pluralityof drivers; coupling capacitors coupled between each driven wire and asingle majority-detection wire, wherein the driven signals feed from thedriven wires and through the coupling capacitors onto themajority-detection wire, and wherein all the coupling capacitors arecoupled to the single majority-detection wire; a differential receiverwhich receives the signal from the majority-detection wire and a biasvoltage as inputs; wherein the output of the differential receiverswitches if the signal on the majority-detection wire switches relativeto the bias voltage; and wherein the apparatus uses the output from thedifferential receiver to optimize the transmission of signals from theplurality of driven wires across a long signal route.
 2. The apparatusof claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of coupled wires; a secondset of coupling capacitors in addition to the coupling capacitorscoupled between each driven wire and the single majority-detection wire,wherein for each driven wire the second set includes a second couplingcapacitor coupled between the driven wire and a corresponding coupledwire; a second plurality of drivers which each receive a signal from acorresponding coupled wire; wherein each driven signal feeds from adriven wire through a corresponding second coupling capacitor and onto acorresponding coupled wire; and wherein each coupled wire feeds into adriver for transmission across the long signal route.
 3. The apparatusof claim 2, wherein forming the second capacitor involves running thecorresponding driven wire parallel to the corresponding coupled wire fora specific distance with a specific separation.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1, further comprising a bias voltage adjusting mechanism,configured to adjust the bias voltage to make the differential receivermore sensitive to small voltage changes on the majority-detection wire.5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein optimizing the transmission ofsignals across the long signal route involves using an encoder to modifythe logical state of the signal to accommodate a preference of adownstream-circuit for a particular logical state.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 5, wherein optimizing the transmission of signals across the longsignal route involves using an encoder to modify the logical state ofthe signal to prevent unnecessary switching during the transmission ofthe signals.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a controlsignal wire which carries a signal indicating to downstream circuitrythat the signals on the long signal route have been optimized fortransmission.
 8. An computer system that reduces power consumption byusing capacitive coupling to perform a majority detection operation,comprising: a processor; a memory; a plurality of driven wires thatreceive driven signals from a plurality of drivers; coupling capacitorscoupled between each driven wire and a single majority-detection wire,wherein the driven signals feed from the driven wires and through thecoupling capacitors onto the majority-detection wire, and wherein allthe coupling capacitors are coupled to the single majority-detectionwire; a differential receiver which receives the signal from themajority-detection wire and a bias voltage as inputs; wherein the outputof the differential receiver switches if the signal on themajority-detection wire switches relative to the bias voltage; andwherein the computer system uses the output from the differentialreceiver to optimize the transmission of signals from the plurality ofdriven wires across a long signal route.
 9. The computer system of claim8, further comprising: a plurality of coupled wires; a second set ofcoupling capacitors in addition to the coupling capacitors coupledbetween each driven wire and the single majority-detection wire, whereinfor each driven wire the second set includes a second coupling capacitorcoupled between the driven wire and a corresponding coupled wire; asecond plurality of drivers which each receive a signal from acorresponding coupled wire; wherein each driven signal feeds from adriven wire through the corresponding second coupling capacitor and ontothe corresponding second wire; and wherein each coupled wire feeds intoa driver for transmission across the long signal route.
 10. The computersystem of claim 8, further comprising a bias voltage adjustmentmechanism configured to adjust the bias voltage to make the differentialreceiver more sensitive to small voltage changes on themajority-detection wire.
 11. The computer system of claim 8, whereinoptimizing the transmission of signals across the long signal routeinvolves using an encoder to modify the logical state of the signal toaccommodate a preference of a downstream-circuit for a particularlogical state.
 12. The computer system of claim 9, wherein the secondcoupling capacitor is formed by running the corresponding driven wireparallel to the corresponding coupled wire for a specific distance witha specific separation.
 13. The computer system of claim 11, whereinoptimizing the transmission of signals across the long signal routeinvolves using an encoder to modify the logical state of the signal toprevent unnecessary switching during the transmission of the signals.14. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising a control signalwire, which carries a control signal indicating to downstream circuitrythat the signals on the long signal route have been optimized fortransmission.